When I'm not watching Chiefs games, Bill Maher or shows about Nazis, I love watching Mythbusters on the Discovery Network.

Of course, part of the fun of that show is to watch Jamie and Adam use high explosives to destroy large pieces of hardware - whether they intended to do so or not!  But the core of the show is to take a common, everyday idea that many people might accept as fact, and attempt to prove or disprove it.

So during the off-season, I'm going to take a look at a few commonly accepted ideas among NFL fans, and try to find out of there is, indeed, any truth to them.

And if there is a way to use high explosives, I'll try to find it.

Today's myth: Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts  - Woodman

Is there anyone who would like to stand up and explain the logic behind a 3-13 NFL team losing its last game of the season in order to move up in the draft?

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Chiefs fans, I want you to remember this day.  While we all hope that we'll never again find the Chiefs in a position where that discussion might take place going into the season's final game, the NFL can be kind of a funny place.

Sure... I know.  We don't want to even think about that right now.  But let's man up: it might happen again.  Maybe next season.  But hopefully... just someday.  Like maybe... after we're all dead.

But if it does happen before you go under the hood in that big instant replay booth in the sky, I want you to remember the day that Todd Haley told his team that it was time to put the 2009 season behind them, and play the first game of the 2010 season.

Here's the lesson Todd Haley was giving his team.  And you:

Screw the draft.  Drafting early is like being named Miss Congeniality at a beauty pageant.  It's for losers.  In the NFL, the object is to win.  Period.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, their 44-24 victory over the Broncos won't go in the record books as the first victory of 2010.  But whatever you are feeling right now in the wake of this huge upset victory - the Chiefs' first-ever at Invesco Field - I want you to multiply it by ten.

Because that's exactly what Chiefs players are feeling right now.  And with luck, that incredible feeling will be enough to carry them through their first actual victory of 2010.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts. -Chris

About a week ago, I presented some statistical analysis to shed some light on the unofficial data for NFL dropped passes collected by third party vendor STATS LLC.  Specifically, I was interested in determining how dropped passes related to other mainstream receiving statistics, and trying to get an idea what kind of standards STATS uses for counting dropped passes.

Of course... this statistical category is of much current interest to Chiefs fans because three Kansas City receivers - Dwayne Bowe, Bobby Wade and Mark Bradley - are among the league leaders, and we are told the Chiefs as a group are on the verge of setting an NFL record for the season.  So I was also hoping to learn more about where Chiefs receivers stood.

Unfortunately, the data available to me at that time was incomplete, and I couldn't draw very many conclusions from it - other than my own suspicion that the data is mysterious, because it doesn't seem to line up very well with other, official NFL receiving statistics.

I received many nice compliments for the work, but also some valid criticisms of my methods.  In hindsight, I probably should have abandoned the project when I realized I couldn't easily obtain drops data for all NFL receivers.

But since then - quite by accident - I've discovered that you can get this data.  It's just that unless you are a subscriber to the STATS service, it's a hell of a lot of work to assemble it.  So please remember that if you're interested in having me do some additional analysis of this data after the season's final week - or in... say... week 9 of the 2010 season - I'm pretty sure I'll be busy washing my hair!

There's a lot of data to go through here, but it's very interesting.

Continue reading this post »

Like a lot of Chiefs fans - and coaches - I've been doing some thinking about dropped passes.  While drops are not an official NFL statistic, apparently the Chiefs are on the verge of setting an all-time record for them this season.

We'll all agree that's bad.

But the only numbers I've heard about are the raw number of drops - not, for example, how they relate to the number of times a receiver has had a pass thrown to him, which seemed significant to me.

So I decided to dig around, and see if I could expand my knowledge about how drops are tabulated, and see how Chiefs receivers really stack up against the rest of the NFL.

I got a few surprises.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts - Woodman

The Chiefs haven't had a home game blacked out for local TV in just over nineteen years.  On that day - December 16, 1990 - Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers passed for 527 yards in a 27-10 victory over the Chiefs in the final regular season loss of Marty Shottenheimer's second season as head coach.

Throughout NFL history, only Norm Van Brocklin ever passed for more yards in a game.  He gained 554 yards through the air for Los Angeles way back in 1951.

Until just a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't even aware that the 1990 game hadn't been seen on local TV.  There's a good reason: I was there.  It was the first game I ever saw at Arrowhead - and for me, it marked a new beginning in a long love affair with the Chiefs.

History repeated itself on Sunday.  I was there once again as a Chiefs loss was blacked out to local television.  And yet another player came tantalizingly within reach of an all-time NFL record, as the Browns' Jerome Harrison rushed for 286 yards - and three touchdowns - in a 41-34 defeat of the Chiefs.

It hasn't been nearly as long since anybody rushed for that many yards in an NFL game.  The Vikings' Adrian Peterson is the current record holder, having gained 296 yards against the Chargers in 2007.  The Ravens' Jamal Lewis ran for 295 against the Browns in 2003.  But now Harrison - in his fourth NFL season - holds the third spot.

Unfortunately… the similarities end there.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts. -Chris

From the beginning of the season, optimistic Chiefs fans looked to the Week 14 game against the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium as winnable - if not an outright shoo-in.

Even though the Bills arrived in Kansas City with a record only one game better than the Chiefs, half of their losses were by a total of 10 points - while the Chiefs had lost their two previous games by a total of 60 points!

Despite this, three of four respondents in the AP prediction poll for the game believed the Chiefs would win.

So it's no surprise that so much anger is being expressed over this loss.  Simply put… it sucks to be wrong.

And if you're blaming this loss on Matt Cassel - or Chris Chambers - I'm not going to make it any easier for you.  Because I think you're wrong about that, too.

Continue reading this post »

We know things are bad - worse than bad - and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms.  Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."  Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone.  I want you to get mad!  I don't want you to protest.  I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write.  All I know is that first, you've got to get mad!  I want you to get up right now and go to the window.  Open it, stick your head out and yell, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

When Peter Finch gave this speech - the most riveting moment of his Oscar-winning portrayal as the washed-up, borderline psychotic national news anchor Howard Beale in Paddy Chayefsky's seminal 1976 film Network - he certainly wasn't talking about the NFL.

But he might as well have been. First, you've got to get mad.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts -Joel

Todd Haley desperately needed the win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He needed something concrete to show his players that there is a method to the madness he has unleashed on the team this season.

His team needed to see that his program of discipline and conditioning could give the Chiefs a chance to win a close game against a top-tier team.

The team needed evidence that the new administration's penchant for putting certain players on the field in preference to established Chiefs veterans could pay dividends.

And finally, Haley needed his team to see that he really isn't such a bad guy.

I never would have wished it on them, but Chiefs fans needed Sunday's horrible loss to the Chargers just as desperately.  They needed to be reminded that the Chiefs just aren't a very good football team right now.

Continue reading this post »

During Sunday's win over the Steelers, the Chiefs got the ball at their own 30 with 1:10 left in the first half.  The Steelers would get the ball to open the second half.  At that moment, the Chiefs were trailing by 10 points and had all three of their timeouts.

The Chiefs called an end around to Charles that moved the chains - but didn't call a time out.  Then they completed a short pass to Wade for a yard, but again, didn't call a time out.  These two plays took 40 seconds off the clock.  The Chiefs ran three more plays before time expired: two incomplete passes, and a fourth down play with one second remaining.  Cassel was sacked for a seven yard loss on that play.

It was no surprise to me that the news media didn't question Haley about this after the game, because the Chiefs had scored a big upset.  But I guarantee you that if the Chiefs had lost, it would have been the first question Haley was asked:  why didn't the Chiefs make more of an effort to put points on the board before the end of the half?

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts  -Joel

For people of my generation, November 22 holds a special significance.  We can all remember where we were and what we were doing at a certain moment on the very tragic 1963 iteration of that date.

It may turn out that this date may assume a similar significance for Chiefs fans.  If it turns out that Scott Pioli and Todd Haley can, in fact, turn this franchise around, it's quite possible that the beginning of that turnaround will be dated November 22, 2009 - the day the Chiefs knocked off the world champion Steelers.

So be sure to make note of exactly where you were and what you were doing as you watched Ryan Succop kick the 22 yard overtime field goal to get this win.  In a decade or two, you may be called upon to remember.

Continue reading this post »

I can't ever recall a time that the demeanor of a Kansas City Chiefs head coach was under so much scrutiny by fans and the media.  It's gotten so bad that conspiracy theories are starting to surface.  People are going over game tapes to see if Todd Haley is being targeted by evil network TV directors intent on ruining his career for the sake of a few ratings points.

Perhaps it is time for a dose of reality.

Let's start with this: nobody - and this includes you, me and Jason Whitlock - has any real handle on what it takes to motivate professional athletes.  That is, of course, unless you have been the head coach of a professional sports team.

Oh, sure… we all think we have a pretty good idea.  Most of us have jobs.  Some of us have kids.  There are those among us who have been in the military, taught school, or run businesses.  A few of us have even played or coached sports at the high school or college level.

And all of us are using our experience in these areas to support our opinions on Todd Haley's demeanor.  They fall into two general categories: a) that Todd Haley is an out of control maniac whose emotional outbursts will eventually cause him to lose control of his team, or b) that Todd Haley is a great head coach whose outbursts are giving the team the discipline it needs, and forcing players to be accountable for their play.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts  -Joel

In one of the memorable quotes from the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abignale asks his young son why he thinks the Yankees always win.  "Because they have Mickey Mantle?" wonders Frank Jr. "No," responds his father. "It's because the other teams can't stop staring at those damn pinstripes."

The elder Abignale was talking about the incredible power of image and perception.  And it is image and perception that lie at the heart of the arguments now raging between Chiefs fans regarding the administration of general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley.

You see… we just can't stop staring at those damn Super Bowl rings.

Continue reading this post »

Photo courtesy the Kansas City Star

From the FanPosts  -Joel

Thanks to a helpful link I found posted on AP, I'm now a little better educated on the zone blocking scheme now used by the Chiefs offensive line.  And I'm here to say that I believe this is the much of why the Chiefs are 1-6 at this point.

Don't misunderstand.  I'm not suggesting that it was a mistake to install this scheme.  But the fact that it was put in this season sure might explain a lot.

First, consider the play of Branden Albert.  In 2008, he was generally regarded as having played pretty well for a rookie.  In 2009, most are saying his play has slipped.  What's more likely?  That Albert wasn't a quality player in the first place, or that he's being coached to play in a way that is completely unlike all his previous experience?  For that matter, the same could be said of Brian Waters and Rudy Niswanger.

Continue reading this post »